Development and validation of HPLC-ELSD method for Pistacia lentiscus L. characteristic triterpenic acids determination, in resin and food supplements

Chios mastic gum (CMG) is the resinous secretion of the evergreen shrub Pistacia lentiscus var. Chia. CMG is a product with a long-standing ethnopharmacological history, officially recognized by the EMA as a traditional herbal medicinal product. Apart from its therapeutic value, CMG is also a unique PDO product of Greece, with a broad application in the food, cosmetics and food supplements industries. Due to its high market demand, extensive adulteration attempts with inferior quality gums and resins and packaging falsification is a pressing issue, since to this day no analytical method has successfully been applied for the crude resinʼ s quality control [1]. Therefore, in an effort to compensate for this evident gap in literature, we propose a simple, fast and cost-effective analytical solution to the quality control of CMG products, through the development of a robust, reliable and simple HPLC-ELSD methodology for the quantification of masticadienonic and isomasticadienonic acids, CMGʼs major and most characteristic triterpenes in mastic-containing samples. Validation of the developed method was performed according to the ICH guidelines, assessing parameters such as linearity, specificity, precision (repeatability and intermediate precision), accuracy, robustness and stability. The method was employed to the analysis of several substrates, including authentic and falsified crude resin samples and various food supplements with different formulations. The proposed method can be a useful tool for analytical laboratories working on the authentication and quality control of marketed CMG-based products.